IDF Caterpillar D9

[4][5] The D9R, the latest generation of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers in IDF service, has a power of 405–410 horsepower (302–306 kW) and drawbar pull of 71.6 metric tons (about 702 kN).

The D9s also cleared minefields and explosive belly charges set on the main routes by Syrian army and Palestinian insurgents.

[4] Following several incidents where armed Palestinians barricaded themselves inside houses and killed soldiers attempting to breach the entries, the IDF developed "Nohal Sir Lachatz" (נוהל סיר לחץ "pressure cooker procedure") in which D9s and other engineering vehicles were used to bring them out by razing the houses; most of them surrendered because of fear of being buried alive.

[10] After the deadly ambush in which 13 soldiers were killed, D9 bulldozers razed the center of the Jenin refugee camp and forced the remaining Palestinian fighters to surrender, thus finishing the battle with an Israeli victory.

According to Amnesty International: "For the vast majority of homes destroyed, more than 3,000, and damaged, some 20,000, during Operation “Cast Lead”, the Israeli army has provided no evidence to substantiate its allegations that the houses were used as combat positions, as military command centres or to manufacture or store weapons – or for any other purpose which, under certain circumstances, would have made it lawful to target them.

[12] The following year Israel's Channel 2 reported that Caterpillar would delay the delivery of D9 bulldozers to the IDF while an investigation into the killing of Rachel Corrie took place.

The reserve mechanical engineering equipment (צמ"ה) and bulldozers battalion of the Central Command received a citation of recommendation (צל"ש, tzalash) from the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

D9s participated in the ground offensive, opening routes to tanks and infantry forces, and demolishing structures that were used by Palestinian militants.

In 2018 the Israel Defense Forces Combat Engineering Corps started to deploy and operate the "Panda" – a remote-controlled version of an armored Caterpillar D9T bulldozer.

[5] An investigation by CNN published in January 2024 used satellite imagery to identify sixteen burial grounds in Gaza that had been desecrated by the IDF using bulldozers to level cemeteries and dig up bodies.

[2][27] Amnesty International released a report in May 2004 on home demolition in the occupied Palestinian territories in May 2004 that noted the risk of complicity for Caterpillar in human rights violations.

[2][3] Human Rights Watch reported the same year on the systematic use of D9 bulldozers in illegal demolitions throughout the occupied territories and called on Caterpillar to suspend its sales to Israel, citing the company's own code of conduct.

[28] The punitive destruction of Palestinian homes has been described as a form of collective punishment,[29] and in the view of Human Rights Watch may be considered a war crime.

[30] The pro-Palestinian group Jewish Voice for Peace and four Roman Catholic orders of nuns planned to introduce a resolution at a Caterpillar shareholder meeting subsequent to the human rights reports asking for an investigation into whether Israel's use of the company's bulldozer to destroy Palestinian homes conformed with the company's code of business conduct.

In response, the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs urged its members to buy Caterpillar stock and to write letters of support to the company.

[27][32] In 2017, documents emerged that showed Caterpillar had hired private investigators to spy on the family of Rachel Corrie, the American human rights activist who was killed by a D9 bulldozer in Rafah in early 2003.